Miniature Schnauzers do not shed but do need to be groomed - with good brushing you can go for 8 weeks - otherwise 6 is the norm. My husband and I have our 5th Miniature Schnauzer puppy now - and not one of them has had a problem with shedding. He is allergic so that is important to us. We also have a little neighbor boy down the street with severe allergies whuch often lead to asthma attacks and he can play and pet our dogs with out a problem. I live in California and looked in the yellow pages for pet rescue agencies where you could get a full grown dog. Check under both "dogs" and "animals" in your yellow pages to see if they have listings for small breed or pure breed animal rescue services. There is also a Schnauzer Rescue site on the Web. Unfortunately I no longer have it due to a computer virus which wiped out a lot of information. Could try and find it again if you are interested. Good luck in your search!